Grain Valley Schools joins the Kansas City Suburban Conference beginning fall 2018 after being in the Missouri River Valley Conference (MRVC) since 2004.

At the time Grain Valley joined the MRVC, the high school had an enrollment of around 550 students and was very similar to the other schools in the conference. The MRVC has been a great conference for Grain Valley High School for the past 14 years. GVHS has won the last 10 consecutive All-Sports trophies, and every athletic program has been able to compete for conference championships every year. However, with a current enrollment of 1334 students, Grain Valley’s program needs have outgrown the MRVC. As a result, Grain Valley High School will become a member of the Kansas City Suburban Conference beginning in the fall of 2018.

The Suburban Conference consists of 27 schools that are divided into 4 divisions that are aligned by school enrollments. The four divisions (from largest to smallest) are Gold, Red, White and Blue.

Grain Valley will compete in the Blue Division during its inaugural year in the Suburban Conference. The school will compete against divisional opponents throughout the conference seasons, and each division has their own conference standings in each respective sport. Conference divisions realign every 2 years as enrollments go up and down. With the current growth pattern, it is anticipated that our school will move to the White Division in 2020, and may eventually move into the Red Division within the next decade.

Joining the Suburban Conference provides many great opportunities for Grain Valley students. First, schools will be playing other schools that are more similar in size, and the larger schools are able to provide more appropriate competition. Secondly, the Suburban Conference provides more opportunities for program growth. Within the next year, the Suburban Conference will afford the school the opportunity to add lower level basketball and volleyball teams so more kids will have the opportunity to participate. This move also opened up the door to add a swimming and diving program in 2018.

The Suburban Conference is considered one of the most competitive conferences in the state. As with any new adventure, the school expects to encounter some growing pains as schedules become more competitive and demands on facility space continue to grow. However, this transition period will be short-lived because the Grain Valley Schools’ coaches and students have been working extremely hard to prepare themselves to compete against some of the top programs in the state. Grain Valley High School Activities Director Brandon Hart explained, “We are excited to meet the competitive challenges of joining the Suburban Conference.”